Coloring books, toys and medication have been delivered to the underground bunker in Midland City, Ala., where a 5-year-old boy was still being held hostage last night by a crazed gunman, authorities said.

The unidentified boy’s frantic mother, meanwhile, was “hanging on by a thread,” a local elected official said on Day 5 of the bizarre hostage crisis.

Hostage negotiators have been talking with Dykes via a ventilation pipe that leads into the bunker.

“I want to thank him for taking care of our boy,” Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said yesterday.

Poland, 66, died protecting the 21 children on his bus, sources said, but Dykes grabbed the boy, then offered to free him on the first day if authorities sent in a reporter to get his side of the story.

School-bus drivers from around the area plan to attend Poland’s funeral today.,